Hey, you! Yeah YOU!
How come you haven't registered? Have you read about our new blue star program? We are donating $10 of each blue star subscription to the Blue Ribbon Coalition to ensure that we will have trails to recreate on for years to come.
Our blue star comes with all the benefits of a red star such as 10 second searching, blue/red star member only giveaways, access to the private blue/red star member forums, etc.

Lots of progress has been happening on the project.
I bedlined the inside of the tub with raptor liner a few weeks back. I was fairly impressed with this product. It did come out with a texture that is very rough and doesn't seem to have too much give. If i press into it with a finger nail though it does appear to have some give and elasticity. Tim you were right, it did stink up my garage with a strong chemical smell for a few days after application. The smell even found its way inside of the house through the dog door that connects the garage and the house.

I had to do a California work around when buying my OD green paint for the jeep. I had the paint shipped to a friend in Reno and she drove it down to me one weekend when she was visiting family California. It took a couple of weekends to get the stuff, but at least I was able to get it.

After a couple of weeks of waiting for nice weather to paint the body I finally had my break in winter storm weather and got the job done this last week!

I decided I didn't want to bedline the underside of the tub. When trying to determine what to use as an undercoat I came across a product called lizard skin. I finished the process of applying it to the tub today. I also applied the product to the underside of the hood.
I sprayed the Lizard Skin Sound control product first and the Lizard Skin Ceramic Insulation second per the product instructions. The sound control is supposed to deaden the hollow metal sound the body makes when you knock on it (It does infact do this). The ceramic insulation supposedly cuts down the heat that comes off the engine and firewall..something that will definitely be appreciated when it comes to wheeling in the summer time (I have yet to test how much this actually works. My hope is that the ceramic insulation will not only cut down on the heat radiating off of the firewall, but will also help to preserve the raptor liner inside of the tub.
The sound control sprays pretty rough and I wasn't a fan. The ceramic insolation however is an awesome product and I really liked the way it laid down.

Final assembly time and wiring time. Can't wait to take on my first wiring job

I decided I didn't want to bedline the underside of the tub. When trying to determine what to use as an undercoat I came across a product called lizard skin. I finished the process of applying it to the tub today. I also applied the product to the underside of the hood.
I sprayed the Lizard Skin Sound control product first and the Lizard Skin Ceramic Insulation second per the product instructions. The sound control is supposed to deaden the hollow metal sound the body makes when you knock on it (It does infact do this). The ceramic insulation supposedly cuts down the heat that comes off the engine and firewall..something that will definitely be appreciated when it comes to wheeling in the summer time (I have yet to test how much this actually works. My hope is that the ceramic insulation will not only cut down on the heat radiating off of the firewall, but will also help to preserve the raptor liner inside of the tub.
The sound control sprays pretty rough and I wasn't a fan. The ceramic insolation however is an awesome product and I really liked the way it laid down.

Final assembly time and wiring time. Can't wait to take on my first wiring job

I've read about the lizard skin products and have been curious to see how they hold up. It's popular in the hot-rod community but haven't seen it used in a 4x4 yet, so keep us posted.

I sprayed the Raptor Liner with my compressor set to about 50 PSI. I had some trouble with one of the bottles in the kit where it started to harden before I was able to spray it..This caused the applicator gun (The one recommended by UPOL) to clog and begin to shoot out large chunks of the product. I discarded the entire bottle of product I then cleaned the applicator gun and continued application with the fourth and last bottle of product at about 60 PSI.

Since it seems like there is an interest in the Lizard Skin I'll share some of the photos of its application. I had added some reinforcing to the bottom of the tub following the body stretch. I first made sure to prime the new metal and bottom of the body. I then scuffed the primer to assist in adhesion with the lizard skin sound control.

Photos of the Lizard skin while it cured:

The bottom side of the hood had a smoother less chunky texture to it as it was only sprayed with the ceramic insulation:

The ceramic insulation looks like the texture I am after. Would that hold up under the body as well to stones etc?

I'll let you know as soon as it's out on the trail and I find out for sure..Right now it seems like it will hold up. It dries to a pretty hard finish. Lizard skin makes a third product that comes in a spray can and you can spray on areas that need extra protection.
I sprayed the Ceramic Insulation at 70 PSI.

I need help from all of you who know more than I do with wiring up an electric fan in the rig. I've tried to research and teach myself over the past few days, but I'm spinning my wheels and wasting time at this point.

I'm running a Derale 16819 electric fan on my radiator, and I'd like to set it up to be triggered by the two ground wires off of my MSD Atomic EFI.

As far as relays and such go, what is the best thing to use? piece something together myself, buy a kit? I'm basically clueless..The fan is a dual speed..How many relays do I need to use? I'd also lie to have some sort of a switch so I can turn the fan off during water crossings.

This is the last hurdle before getting to fire up the rig for the first time..

To turn the fans off, run the power trigger wire for the relays to a switch. This one wire will run both relays since they are ground switched by the computer. They are also low amperage so that you don't need a giant switch or wire.

Thank you for the input guys. I stumbled across an internet page tonight which explains dual speed fans with two relays towards the bottom.. It contains useful information for other types of setups as well. Going to stop by the auto store tomorrow and pick up the relays and supplies I'll need to make it work.

I used a volvo 2 speed fan and relay. I have the low speed triggered by a temp switch on the engine and I have a manual switch to turn the high speed on. 95% of the time the low does everything I need it to do, However, on long grades I can turn the fan on high for extra cooling.

I set up my electric fan using the Volvo setup from the above page. Seems to work good! I pulled the Volvo fan controller off a wrecked 850 at pick n pull. Cost $6 plus a $2 entrance fee. The used ones off ebay were going for about $30...Always worth a junkyard visit.

Love the build! Looks great! What did you do with the extra windshield? I'm 6'5" and would love one of those windshields! Also I'm doing a similar build as well doing a CJ-2A onto a TJ frame that I'm about to start as well but I'm going with a Kubota V1903 Turbo Diesel to a Wrangler 32RH 3-speed automatic and NP231 transfer case!

Love the build! Looks great! What did you do with the extra windshield? I'm 6'5" and would love one of those windshields! Also I'm doing a similar build as well doing a CJ-2A onto a TJ frame that I'm about to start as well but I'm going with a Kubota V1903 Turbo Diesel to a Wrangler 32RH 3-speed automatic and NP231 transfer case!

-Disjaukifa

I sold off the extra windshield. I see a few of them pop up on rigs that are for sale on craigslist from time to time. They aren't impossible to find. Your build sounds like a fun one! I find myself dreaming of diesel flattys from time to time. If I were to go down the build path again it would be easy to only do the body swap and keep TJ chasis and drivetrain.

Thank you! We brought both rigs up to the Rubicon for steaks and stories in August. I drove mine up to the trail at Loon Lake with only 8 miles of run time and testing on the it..But it ran great. A tad bit hot on the freeway going up highway 50 into Tahoe (210-220 degrees). It stays right around 180 degrees around town, and even cooler when on the trail with the electric fan.

It drives great on the highway. I can let my hands off the wheel and it'll drive straight and smooth. The only thing that limits its top speed is the TH350. To drive 75 down the freeway the revs get pretty high.

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